Self-detaching hook for shaft-cages.



4-- Patented July 16, l90l. EL. wannzum SELF Bil-RENEE- HQQK FOB; SHAFT GAGES. (Agylicmtian am Jam it, 1am.

AMQQAAM NITED STaTns PATENT @EIFICE.

ED WARD GASCOIGNE VVEDDELL, OE TIPTON GREEN, ENGLAND, ASSIGNOR OF TWO-THIRDS TO JOHN GEORGE CHAMBERLAIN AND RALPH PLAYER,

OF BIRMINGHAM, ENGLAND.

SELF DETACHING HOOK FOR SHAF'l' CAGES.

SEEGIEIGAIION forming part of Letters Patent No. 678,804, dated July 16, 1901. Application filed January 11, 1901. Serial No. 42,846- (No model.)

To ctZZ whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, EDWARD GASOOIGNE WVEDDELL, a citizen of England, residing at Holly Bank, Sedgley road, Tipton Green,

county of Stafford, England, have invented a certain new and useful Improvement in Self- Detaching Hooks for Shaft-Cages, (for which application has been made for a patent in Great Britain, dated November 15, 1900, No.

20,623,) of which the following is a specification.

The cage which is employed to convey men or minerals up and down a mine or other shaft is usually provided with a safety-hook,

I 5 which when it passes through a hole in a plate at the top of the shaft automatically detaches itself from the pull-rope and remains resting on the plate, thus providing against danger from overwinding. A form of safety-hook 2o largely employed consists of two strong cheeks at some distance apart connected by a central cross-pin and also by a pin near their lower ends, from which pin the cage is suspended. On the center pin between the cheeks are pivoted side by side two shear blades, which when they are in working position have engaged between them the ring of the pull-rope. These blades have their lower parts curved outward, so that when the body of the hook passes through the hole of the plate the sides of the hole acting on the curved parts of the blades force them inward, and thereby cause their upper parts to open apart, allowing the ring of the pull-rope to escape from between them. The hook thus liberated from the pull-rope descends until lateral catch projections from the blades come to rest on the upper edge of the hole in the plate. Such generally are the construction and operation of safety-hooks of the kind to which my present invention applies, as I shall describe, referring to the accompanying drawings.

Figure l is a front View, with one cheek removed, of the hook in its operative condition. Fig. 2 is a similar view showing it in its detached condition,its shear-blades having been drawn by an overwind into the hole of the catch-plate. Fig. 3 is a side view.

c o are the two cheeks, connected by the center pin cl and also by a pin 6, suspending the cage.

f f are the blades, which are pivoted on the center pin (:1 and have their lower parts g outwardly curved.v At the top they overlap each other, inclosing between them the ring 1' of the pull-rope. Each has also at its side catch projections to. The plate 1), having a hole through it large enough to pass the body of the hook, but not to pass the outwardly-projecting parts 9 of the shear-blades, is fixed at the top of the shaft. Should through negligence or otherwise the winding go on until the hook passes through the hole in p, then the curved parts g of the blades are pushed inward,when they meet the side of the hole, and the upper parts of the blades are opened apart, allowing the ring 0 to escape. The hook then descends until the catch projections a come to rest upon the upper surface of the plate 19. It has been found that the distance which the projections a have to descend, subject to the load of the cage, causes such a shock that damage ensues. The object of my invention is to provide against such damage, and this I effect by forming each of the blades f with another catch projection 1) below the usual projection a, so that when the hook is liberated it descends only the small distance be tween the plate 13 and the projections b.

Having thus described the nature of this invention and the best means I know of carrying the same into practical effect, I claim- In a safety-hook for shaft-cages, the combination with a catch-plate having a hole, of pivoted shear-blades 011 the safety-hook and provided with catch projections arranged to pass up through the catch-plate and open out above it, said shear-blades having other and lower catch projections arranged to pass through and open above said catch-plate later than the catch projections above and support the cage in case of an overwind; substantially as described. I

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set 95 my hand in presence of two subscribing witnesses.

EDWARD GASCOIGNE WEDDELL.

WVitnesses:

EMMA WEDDELL, LUCY ELIZABETH WEDDELL. 

